Hotels

Luneta Hotel

Twentieth century Manila is without a doubt the golden age of the great and mighty city of the Far East. During the course of the first half of the century, the city grew not just in size, but also in population and the abundance of various architectural styles that sprung throughout. From the last century's Spanish colonial and Iberian architecture, to the then-current American neo-classical and federal styles, Manila has or had them all. Sadly, the ravages of war obliterated this once magnificent and celebrated city. As the 'Pearl of the Orient', Manila had to deal with tourists from around the Far East, Europe, and the Americas. With the opening of Manila to ocean liners and the introduction of air travel through the trans-Pacific Clipper planes, hospitality services had to be built, one of these hotels was the Luneta Hotel.

The Luneta Hotel, built in 1917 and completed in 1918, was designed by Spanish engineer Salvador Farre, in the French Renaissance style of architecture. Located in the residential section of Ermita at the corner of Calle San Luis (now T.M. Kalaw St.) and Calle Alhambra, the six-storey edifice facing the Rizal Park, is probably the only surviving example of the French renaissance style in the Philippines.

Ermita, the district on where the Luneta Hotel stands, was inhabited by old bahay na bato and bodegas, as Ermita has not been developed into what it was in the 1920s up to the 1940s. Ermita was where splendid mansions were built for people of importance in Manila, if not, the whole Philippine society.

As part of the American architect and city planner Daniel Burnham's vision for the Philippine capital, he suggested the building of hotels and apartments facing the new Rizal Park, which was t be lined up with trees and government buildings reminiscent of those in Washington D.C. and Paris. The Luneta Hotel boasts of having been built with ornate balconies and the French style mansard roof similar to those in post-Haussmann Paris. Because it was built in the French renaissance style with elements of art nouveau architecture, the Luneta Hotel features mythical elements such as the gargoyle-- which not only meant to serve as aesthetics, but also served to keep water away from the building.

There were originally sixty (60) rooms in the Luneta Hotel, each with its own private bathrooms, and two (2) suites. All rooms have their own telephone service. Today, the sixty rooms of the Luneta Hotel have been decreased to twenty-seven (27) rooms. The hotel also had a restaurant and a coffee shop.

During its early years, the Luneta Hotel was favored by merchant marine sailors and officers when they were staying in Manila because of its proximity to the Manila Harbor. In 1937, the Luneta Hotel gained international prominence when the city hosted the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress as it housed delegates for the Congress.

The liberation of 1945 took a toll on the Luneta Hotel. During the course of the war and occupation of the Philippines, the hotel housed non-commissioned officers of the United States Army, which assumingly, was a prison used by the Japanese Imperial Army. After the Second World War, the sparkle of the Luneta Hotel was not the same as it was before.

In 1952, the Luneta Hotel was bought by a man only written in records as Lednicky from Agustín and Rosalia Farre, in turn, sold it to Toribio Teodoro, owner of the famed Ang Tibay shoes. During the Martial Law years, the Luneta Hotel was confiscated from its owners and was given to the Kapampangan jeweller Panlilio family into its control. Another story was that the Luneta Hotel was not ill-gotten and that Panlilio family had bought the hotel from H.E. Heacock Resources, successor to the H.E. Heacock Company. The Panlilio family have been in the hospitality business due to their ownership of several five-star hotels, resorts , and transporation throughout the Philippines, namely: the now-closed Grand Boulevard Hotel (formerly the Silahis International Hotel), Philippine Village Hotel, and Grand Air International.

In 1983, the Luneta Hotel was renovated and restored to bring back its former glory. After the famed People Power Revolution in 1986, the Luneta Hotel was sequestered from the Panlilio family by the Philippine government through the Presidential Commission on Good Government as it was believed that the former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos owns the hotel, using the Panlilio family as a front. Since then, the Luneta Hotel closed its doors to the public and never to see its patrons again.

In 2007, the Luneta Hotel was purchased by Beaumont Holdings, and declared that the hotel would be restored within three (3) years. In 2014, after almost seven (7) years, the Luneta Hotel was again reopened with a grand spectacle coming from heritage conservationists and locals alike.

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About the Author/Sobre el Autor

An alumnus of Colegio San Agustín-Makati, Paúlo's love for architecture started over a decade and a half now. Having been exposed to his father's career as an architect of more than 25 years, his interest for local heritage began when he was in grade school after browsing through a coffee table book of Jonathan Best's turn-of-the-century postcards on Manila's landmarks. Though he calls himself a conservative in dealing with his designs as he is influenced by the City Beautiful Movement and Haussmann, he is also influenced by the modernists locally and internationally such as Arellano, Locsin, Luna de San Pedro, Calma, Speer, Niemeyer, Van der Rohe, Burnham, Wright, Calatrava, among others. His love for Manila's grand old architecture pushes him to be a heritage architect as built heritage in the Philippines is rapidly diminishing due to the so-called "globalization". After finishing his architectural studies, he will go on and become the country's (and the world's) sought after architects in urban planning, heritage architecture, and innovative designs.
He is now residing in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, in Canada.